On 28 May, a Rescriptum ex Audientia Sanctissimi, signed by Pope Leo XIV on 25 March 2026, was published.
Referring to canon 699 § 2, the Rescriptum provides that the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life may grant the diocesan Bishop the faculty to issue a decree of dismissal “when the case concerns the Major Superior of a sui iuris monastery.”
This amendment concerns the sui iuris monasteries governed by canon 615 and the dismissal of the Major Superior of such monasteries.
In this regard, it is clarified that a sui iuris monastery is an autonomous monastery that is not associated with a male religious institute and which, in accordance with canon 615, is subject to the vigilance of the diocesan Bishop. Consequently, apart from its own Moderator, such a monastery has no other Major Superior.
Should such a situation arise, the Bishop is to submit a written request to the above-mentioned Dicastery in order to obtain the faculty referred to above.